

Oriental Rugs “Fine Art” or Not - Doug’s Rug Spa State College Williamsport Lewisburg Danville

Antique Caucasian Rugs: Guide To Antique Kazak Rugs

Orient Stars Antique Type A Star Kazak Rug

Qazax (Kazakh, Kazak, Kasak, Gazakh). The most used spelling today is Qazax but rug people use Kazak so I generally do as well.

Part of this project is a constant refinement based on adding in new information. Now as I try to define Kazak I have to turn to the geography and history of the region. When I speak of Kazak rugs I am referring to rugs from the old Kazak Khanate. Qazax is a city of about twenty thousand people in Northwest Azerbaijan at 41.10°N, 45.35°E.

In the Caucasus people live in valleys and mountain peaks are the dividers. Kazak was an important city because it controlled a series of valleys that extend from modern Azerbaijan into Armenia and Georgia.

The people of this region are Azeri Turks, Armenians, Albanians, and Northern Caucasian. There are also Greeks, Russians, and Georgians, in the area but they do not appear to have made a significant number of rugs.

Visit Kazak_Rugs on Hubpages and Caucasian_Rugs on Hubpages

Murray Eiland Jr.on the Kazaks

There are few people I respect more than Murray Eiland Jr. The scope of his work and the measure of his contribution to the field is hard to describe. Never the less there are few people that I disagree with as much as Murray. One area in particular is on the subject of Kazaks and the Kazaks of the Caucasus. In Eiland, and Eiland, Oriental Rugs page 270 Murray suggests that there are no Kazaks in the Caucasus. He very rightly points out that the ethnic groups are Armenian, Azeri Turks and a few other smaller groups. I will conceded that Murray is correct but he is missing one key point. A Kazak is a descendent of one who left the Mongol horde (ordu). So in the Caucasus there are many people who are descendents of people who at some point split from the authority of the Chingizid rulers.

Take for instance the Bordjalu region of the Kazak region in the Caucasus. The region takes it names from the Bordjalu Khanate which takes it name from the Bordjalu tribe. The Bordjalu tribe are the descendents of the 10,000 men Cingis Qan (Ghengis Khan) gave to his close friend and ally Boro'cu. At some point the tribe left the authority of the Mongol Il and at that point they were Kazak.

This is not to say however that Kazaks wove the rugs that we call Kazak. The rugs we see are mostly post 1830 when most of the weavers of Kazak rugs were Armenians. Still the designs thay drew upon in many cases were from the Kazaks who had lived in that area prior to the Russian capture of Erevan.

Antique 19th c. Seljuk Rosette Kazak rug

How do people in Azeribaijan react to my notes;

Read Kazak Rugs The Aykhan Mammadov Response

Map of the Kazak Area

Kameral'noe Opisanie was a survey ordered by the Russian Czar and was conducted in the years from 1829- 1832 AD. More then just a census this gives us an idea of who the people were and how they lived. There are a few crucial clues that help in Rug studies.

	Erevan 1829- 1832			The Mahals 1829- 1832
	Muslims	Native Armenians	Immigrant Armenians	Muslims	Native Armenians	Immigrant Armenians
Dyers (blue)	2	1	1	2	7	27
Spinners	0	0	1	0	0	19
Loom Makers	0	0	2	-	-	-
Red Dyers	4	2	16	0	1	26
Totals	6	3	20	2	8	72

Due to the fighting between Russia and the Ottomen Empire by 1830 thousands of the Muslims had recently moved out of the Province of Erevan. The Kameral'noe Opisanie notes more than 1/3 of all of the villages were abandoned. A large portion of Armenian imagration into Erevan was in the Gokcha Mahal the area north and northwest of Lake Van ( the large lake bottom center in the map below). Please note that major weaving areas such as Pambak and the Idjevan area were in the hands of the Russians prior to 1829.

Note the figures above, immigrant Armenians dominate both red and blue dyeing and spinning. Looms last a long time but two Immigrant Armenians were loom makers. The Russians did not record home industrty such as rug weaving but I am convinced that a huge numer of rugs were woven by Armenians from 1829 onwards. Now look again at thje maps. The area of major Armenian population growth was in an area that geography guided trade. If you were taking goods to market obviously you would not haul them at great risk to life and limb over snow covered peaks. The trade path funneled trade goods to Kazak and Gendge. So what do we call the Armenian rugs? Kazak and Gendge.

So while not all Kazak (and Gendge) rugs are Armenian I believe most of what we know as Kazak is Armenian

at the time of the Kameral'noe Opisanie

My information on the Kameral'noe Opisanie and population trends draws heavily on a book by George Bournoutian The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule 1795 - 1828. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers in Association with Bibliotheca Persica, 1992. I called Professor Bournoutian on 11/26/03 and discussed my thoughts on this with him and he was in general agreement with my conclusions. So credit is due him but all the mistakes are mine.

White Ground "Star" Kazak Rug, South Caucasus

Christie's

http://www.christies.com

A White Ground "Star" Kazak Rug, South Caucasus
Sold for £196,250
February 2001
London, King Street

Karachopf Kazak Rug

Guide to Antique Karachopf Gardabani Rugs

Lori Pambak

Antique Lori Pambak Rug

Lori or Lori Pambak is a mountainous region of Armenia that borders upon Georgia. It has a population of 400,000 and is 97% Armenian. Lori - the third biggest region in Armenia.

S-Bordüre/S Border Group

Sevan Kazak

Oriental Rugs/Caucasian Rugs: The Ed Krayer Sewan Kazak Rug

The Ed Krayer Sewan Kazak Rug

Sevan is a town near Lake Sevan the highest freshwater lake in the Transcaucasus. It is ethnically Armenian in the heart of present day Armenia.
The Alberto Antique Levi Sevan Kazak
Antique Sewan Kazak Rug
The Rittman Collection Antique Sewan Kazak Rug
Link - LINK - Armenia 1999: Lake Sevan
Link - LINK - Sevan, Lake - Britannica.com
Link - LINK - Ramsar Bureau trip to Armenia's wetlands
Link - LINK - ArmeniaFest - Sevan Kazak Design - closeup
Schurmann Plate 14
Antique Sewan Kasak rug 19th C.Nagel Lot 71

Shikli

Notes on Antique Shikli/Shiki Rugs

Shulaver

Of alll the caucasian Rugs expect all Shulaver rugs to be antique, Even among Antique Kazak rugs Shulaver rugs tend to be much older.Later Shulaver kazak rugs are there by suspect. Shulaveri is a village of the Marneouli district of Georgia.Home of poetess Maro Margarian, 1915 -1999.Shulaveri is an Armenian town in Georgia. Link - LINK - 1 Report of Civil Monitoring Of the Presidential Decree #95 of 15 ...

Antique Memling Gul Kazak Rug

Antique Kazak Rug

Antique Kazak Rug, lot 318

A Guide To Kazak Borders

Typical Kazak Structure

Structure: Symmetrical. 40 to 60 kpsi. Not depressed.

Yarn Spin: Z.

Warp: most have 3 ply wool some 2, natural colored.

Weft: 2 – 6 shots of 2 ply wool. Usually red, Sometimes yellow, blue in late pieces.

Pile: 2 Wool singles.

Ends: Upper - often has plainweave with warp fringe. Lower - loops or half-hitch end finish.

Selvages: 2 – 4 warp units reinforced often using pile colors. Outer warp units are frequently attached interlaced warp units.

Similar Rugs

Karabagh rugs are often very similar to Kazaks but tend to have fewer wefts usually two and the wefts are undyed.
Turkish Kazaks are similar to Kazaks but have more subdued colors. Reds are much more muted.